The invention relates to the field of tanning beds having a system for automatically operating the tanning beds from a centralized unit. Such a system allows members that subscribe to the system to utilize the tanning beds by use of magnetic cards and readers that belong to the user and are used to operate one of the tanning beds. More particularly, the invention relates to the idea of controlling such a plurality of tanning beds by means of radio frequency signals that are sent from a central unit in order to control individual tanning bed units in the system. The central unit will process information from the magnetic strip cards and then enable one of the tanning beds for use by the customer.